


Tokens Exchanged on the Road to Enlightenment

by wisdomeagle



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Blood Kink, Canonical Character Death, Car Sex, Co-workers, Community: harmficathon, Drinking, F/M, Letters, Lists, One Night Stands, Season/Series 05, Vampires, canonical background pairings, extra-canonical ust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-05-01
Updated: 2005-05-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 11:21:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4704236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisdomeagle/pseuds/wisdomeagle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don't stand so close to me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tokens Exchanged on the Road to Enlightenment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Karabair (likeadeuce)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeadeuce/gifts).



##### In formal script, on expensive paper:

> I will look at Illyria without flinching  
> I will enter my office without sobbing  
> I will not contemplate the implications of Illyria existing in Fred's body  
> I will recall that Fred's body is a corpse  
> 

Then a smudge where some words have been scratched out.

> I will work on case files for half an hour  
> I will speak to Angel about taking some time off  
> I will decide not to take any time off  
> I will not drink  
> 

another blot where the pen rested on the paper for a minute

> much  
> 

##### purple pen, on pink paper, several spelling errors corrected:

> Stuff I Need To Do Wednesday:  
> ♥ make blood for angel (like ALWAYS!)  
> ♥ answer the phone a lot  
> ♥ call that one guy's secretary and tell them... that thing. CHECK ANGEL'S NOTE!  
> ♥ lunch!  
> ♥ ask angel what he wants me to do in the afternoon  
> ♥ talk to wesley for angel and ask him if he wants to take a vacation.  
> 

Harmony takes a deep breath before knocking on Wesley's door. She hates going to see him now... he's behaving worse than Spike did when they first hooked up, always brooding over that Drusilla bitch, never thinking of anyone but himself. Stupid, selfish men. She misses Cordy; Cordy was always good for bitching about the stupidity of men. God, it's hard when you have to think of the bitchy remarks all by yourself! No one tells you these things about your best friend being dead. It's totally not fair. She frowns. Fred was also pretty good at stuff like that, but Fred's gone too.

Yep. The evidence all points in one direction: the universe is out to get her, personally. How fair is that? Not fair at all, she answers her own question, and, smile on her face at her own cleverness, she knocks.

"Come in." Wesley's voice is dull. Harmony shudders and shakes her head.

"So, um, hey!"

"Harmony." 

"Yeah, that's me. Listen, I talked to Angel, and he said that maybe you want to take a couple days off? And so I'm like, Fred was my friend too! So Angel says, okay, Harmony, why don't you _both_ take a day off? So now we can take our day off together! Isn't that great?" She beams.

Wesley doesn't look up from his desk. "I see."

Harmony takes another couple of unnecessary breaths -- those yoga lessons have turned out to be super-useful! -- and takes a step closer to Wesley. "So, put down your work, and come on! We're going to have a night on the _town_!" She tosses her hand into the air, and twirls closer still to Wesley.

"Will you go away if I don't listen to you?"

"Mmm -- nope. Angel _said_ to get you out of here. It's my job." She grins. "So, where do you want to go? There's this bar where Fred took me this one ti--"

"Don't talk about her." Scary.

"Okay, fine, whatever. I was just going to say there are lots of hot chicks there -- I mean, if that's your thing. That is your thing, right?" She looks down. She's wearing this adorable tiny pink dress with a slit practically up to the middle of her thigh. If Wesley isn't totally all over her, she's doing something seriously wrong.

Wesley rolls his eyes and nods. "Fine. We'll go drinking. You want to leave right now, I assume?" Harmony nods eagerly. "All right. Give me five minutes and I'll meet you in the lobby."

##### The contents of Wesley's wallet:

> -A publicity photograph of Fred in her lab, mystically sealed, and laminated for good measure  
> -twelve dollars in cash  
> -a W+H credit card  
> -a slip of paper with his father's address on it, carefully folded and touched as rarely as possible  
> -a neat stack of receipts  
> -two unsent love letters to Fred  
> -hidden in the back, a picture of Lilah rescued from the W+H archives. She is wearing her public face, smiling and open, and she looks like the kind of lawyer one wants looking after one's estate  
> 

##### The contents of Harmony's purse:

> -a pen with a fluff of pink feathers at the end  
> -a wad of receipts  
> -a picture of her and Cordy at the winter ball their freshman year, leaning on each other's arms and grinning wildly for the camera. Cordelia is escorted by Tommy; Harmony can't remember the name of her own boyfriend  
> -a W+H credit card  
> -her cell phone, with her boss's number on speed dial -- an essential accessory for the modern secretary  
> -a tiny vial of otter's blood, in case she gets hungry while she's out  
> 

Wesley puts on a jacket and clicks the key in the door. He doesn't think of Gunn, who is somewhere in hell, suffering, as he _deserves_. He doesn't think about how bitterly happy he is at the thought of Gunn's suffering either. Nor does he think of this building, its clean lines frightening in the efficiency of their imprisonment.

He thinks only of the bar he is being taken to, and of the first drink he'll ask for.

He finds Harmony in the lobby, tapping her foot impatiently, and, darkly amused by the absurdity of it, he offers her his arm, pecks her on the cheek. He remembers the two evenings that he escorted Fred to her car in this fashion, and at that remembrance he gives Harmony a proper kiss, because -- because she is there, and is taunting and appetizing in her short skirt and genuine smile.

"Okay, whoa. Are you flirting with me? Because if this is going to be a thing, I need to know, you know? Because the last time I picked up a guy, it kind of didn't end well. Sleeping with me is a big risk, you know."

Wesley feels his lips twitch into a smile. "The last woman I slept with was impaled by _your_ friend Cordelia."

"Oooh, right. So, wait, you and Fred never... oh, and everyone thought you guys had finally done it! God, that sucks."

"Rather."

If he doesn't think too much, if he focuses on the lukewarm arm linked with his, on the absurd ups and downs of her voice, on the feminine scent of her perfume, then for a moment he doesn't remember Fred. And much as he despises himself for the ease with which he forgets, it is comforting like Scotch to realize that he can.

##### Bar tab, written by an unfortunate barkeep:

> -martinis: 2  
> -Scotch, neat: 3  
> -green apple martinis: 2  
> -1945 Chardonnay: one bottle  
> -"those little peanut thingies": three packs  
> -patrons were sent home in a company limousine, absolutely knackered. After female patron's continual singing of pop songs, decided to enact official banning of patrons from this establishment forever and ever. Was informed by male patron that forever is probably not too far away.  
> -tip: $45, paid by female patron, who cannot do math  
> 

Harmony is sooo craving blood right now, and she's gotta admit, it's human blood this time. She keeps on tossing longing looks at Wesley as they drive through LA, and she wonders if he might be into that kind of thing. After all, the rumors in the break room always paired him with everyone from Fred (duh) to Angel (ewww), so maybe, maybe and God, she can almost taste his blood, all liquored and smooth. Not to mention the beard. She remembers her and Cordy rating all the boys in school the last day of high school, and Wesley was the only one Cordelia gave a perfect ten.

You approve, right, Cordy? she thinks heavenwards, and is so struck by the idea that fucking this man might be a tribute to her best friend that she crawls over to him right then and licks his neck enticingly.

"Not much for foreplay, are you?"

She wiggles so as to best show off her cleavage. "I just think that when a man and a woman like each other, you know, they should do something about it."

"That is the typical way of doing things, yes." Ohh, God, she loves his accent! It makes her all shivery inside. And then he kisses her, and even though he's looking right through her (she got used to _that_ when she was with Spike), he kisses her like she's never been kissed before, and she loses her head and kisses him back, trying to nip him and get at the good stuff, and the taste of Scotch (ugh) and blood (yummy) is a weird turn-on, and she licks his lips and bites them, using her human teeth, but she can still taste the blood... He leans over, has her on her back, and she's so glad the limo has comfy leather seats. Working for Wolfram and Hart is _such_ a good investment.

"Hey, um, Wesley? Would you mind if I vamped out? Just a little bit? It's just... I'm getting hungry, is all."

"Wouldn't mind at all," Wesley says, forcing her dress down and licking her breast. Harmony shivers happily.

##### Things Wesley has jerked off to, both in private and with Lilah watching:

> -Penthouse (infinite)  
> -photographs of Lilah (also infinite, mostly with her watching)  
> -photographs of Lilah with other men (only twice)  
> -photographs of Fred with Gunn (only once, and unsuccessfully, at Lilah's suggestion)  
> -memories of Angel drinking from his arm (on rare occasions, and always guiltily)  
> -fantasies of Fred (infinite, always guilty)  
> -a certain detailed description in the Watcher's Manual of the process of turning a human into a vampire (quite often in his Academy days, less frequent but just as fervent now)  
> 

##### Things Harmony has jerked off to:

> -fantasies of Spike (infinite)  
> -fantasies of Cordelia (once)  
> -Cosmo (more often than she'd like to admit)  
> -Playgirl (only once, unsuccessfully)  
> -a picture of Buffy (twice, while Spike watched)  
> 

"Well?" Wesley slips another finger between Harmony's legs, pushing aside the tiny slip of underwear she pretends protects her modesty. "Would you like me to taste you first, or would you like to, er, taste me?"

"God, are you actually going to go down on me?"

"It was my plan, yes."

"Eww, that's so totally weird. No one ever did that to me."

"Still, shall we try the experiment? I think you might find it satisfying."

He can almost hear Harmony roll her eyes. "Okay, _fine_. If that's what gets you off..."

Harmony has shaved none-too-skillfully; he feels at least half a dozen tiny nicks with his tongue, but still, her pussy is smooth and accepts his tongue willingly. He can _feel her_ as she opens to him, letting tongue and fingers slide between her lips and into her vagina. He nips at her clitoris, guessing, correctly, that vampires enjoy being bitten just about everywhere. Gentle sucking combined with rather rough biting turns out to be more than a turn-on; he has her writhing and screaming within minutes. He smiles grimly, remembering that they rolled up the privacy screen at the beginning of the drive.

Fucking Harmony is easy and slick; he closes his eyes as he sinks into her, avoiding the necessity of kissing by offering her his neck. Her fangs are shorter than he'd imagined they would be, but the pain is sharp and exquisite. As she takes more blood from him, he feels a faint buzz in his head, which adds to his excitement; blood loss and smooth pussy contribute to a quick climax, after which he pulls himself off her; pushing her away roughly.

"Premature much?"

"My apologies," he says, with only a hint of sarcasm.

##### The letter Wesley wrote:

> Dear Harmony,
> 
> Thank you very much for an interesting evening. It was, and I write this sincerely, one of the most enlightening experiences I've had this year; thank you for sharing it with me.
> 
> I assume you understand it was an experience we shan't be repeating. My respect for you is no less than it ever was.
> 
> Very truly yours,  
> Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.  
> 

##### The letter Harmony wrote:

> Wesley-boo,
> 
> Okay, about last night? So. Not. My. Fault. If you like, die of blood loss or something? Also so not my fault. And I hope this wasn't just a one-night stand to you! I am so sick of being that for guys. I'm starting to get a reputation, you know. But let's not do it again, okay? I just don't think you're my type. Thank you for the drinks.
> 
> Love,  
> Harmony  
> 


End file.
